So around 7 in the morning we load up my brides gas sipping ride, swung by and picked up my Father In-Law, and hopped on good ole I-30 west bound towards the big “D”.....

So where was our first stop?..... Good ole Sulphur Spring, Texas to visit my friend Robert (rsmith71) and his family.

Robert and I became friends not to long after I joined here on Jumber Jocks a while back. He has always went out of his way to help explain stuff for me when I was green to the core when it came to woodwork. Not only that he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse… “Come on over to visit and I will load you up with some lumber”... We still laugh our butts off on how much wood we where able to cram in my brides old PT Cruiser last year…lol

We got to do some visiting and Robert took the time to show me an awesome loft bed he built for one of his kids (I am currently designing one for my daughter now). I can’t begin to tell you Robert how much I appreciate all the info you shared with me on these beds… As always you where a ton of help.

(Yea, you can tell Robert knows his stuff on these)

We where able to stick around for a bit and look at some of Roberts handy work and talk about his really cool Joker Boards he builds. I got to say the pictures just don’t do them justice on here. Top notch looking game boards and sounds like an incredibly addictive game (I’m going to hold you to that promise of showing my bride and I how to play one day Robert…lol).

Well, It was time for us to be heading down the road and we started to say our good by’s then Robert handed me a gift bag…. Of course being a well trained husband I automatically handed it to my bride for her to open (I know how it works…lol). Inside was a beautiful gift that Robert made for us….

He knew my bride flat out loves crosses. I think he definitely done good! Thanks again Robert… You Rock!

So we hopped back in the ride and headed farther down ole I-30 headed toward Dallas. About an hour and a half later we came up on Garland Texas…. Home of a my very good friend Mike (the one and only Cozmo35). Now I got to admit… I chit chat with this crazy “Coon Ass” nearly every day about nothing and everything…lol. My bride swears we where cut from the same mold some times.

I been threatening Mike for a while now about coming to visit him and was flat tickled to death to finally have the opportunity to just hang out…. And by God that is exactly what we did….lol. I can honestly say time just flew by while we where there. Never a dull moment the entire time we where there.

Let me also add about Mikes beautiful family… Flat out nice and fun people. My bride mentioned something about it taking a special kind of women to put up with guys like Mike and I…. Not sure how to take that…lol.

Well, what woodworking trip would be complete if we didn’t make a road trip down to Rockler? We just had to check out the big sale they had going on…lol

After we got through with that Mike treated us to a killer local restaurant called “Babes”... Wow! Good thing we don’t have one here. I think my pants don’t fit well now?....lol

Now as soon as I knew we where going to be heading to Dallas two weeks ago I had to come up with a project to make for Mike because every time I turn around that crazy sucker is sending me some kind of cool handy work of his. Take for instance this flat out awesome cross he made us….

Well, I wanted to do something nice for him. What to build? What to build? Then I seen some folks on here posting up tool totes. I loved them and wanted one for myself… Ahh Ha! That’s It! I will build Mike a tool tote… What woodworker wouldn’t want one of these?

So for two weeks I busted butt trying to get Mikes gift ready…. I am so glad I was able to get it done in time.

Here is the link to the project page “Cherry and Walnut Tool Totehttp://lumberjocks.com/projects/52897“

Well, just when I think I was catching up to Mike in the gift swapping category he brings in this jewel…

All I can say it WOW! Thank you Mike!

After staying on into the evening I suddenly realized we had about a three hour drive home. As much as I hated it… It was time to say our goodbyes. Like I mentioned earlier… Time just flew by…

We made it home safe and sound a little after midnight and was dog tired, but so tickled to death we made the memorable journey. I want to send my most sincere thanks to Robert, Mike, and their families for such a wonderful day. I truly feel like a lucky man to have such great folks as friends…

Can’t wait to do it again!

Thanks for reading….

This is what I seen when I first opened the box….

One is a 10” Sargent Jack plane (please someone correct me if I am wrong.. I am still learning), and the other is a 14” Fulton smoothing plane. Even though I know these are quite common, and considered mid to low end planes I couldn’t let these things go without doing every thing I can to make them right. So I embarked on my journey to learn hand planes and restore a couple pieces of my brides history. Just the thought of putting them back to work in my shop just flat out tickles me to death…

Ok…. So the first thing I did was use a favorite rust penetrating oil called PB Blaster to help free up all the hardware. I had pretty good success in removing all the hardware except the Fulton’s rear handle anchor bolt. So I decided to go to step two and that was to lap the sole and sides. Here is the setup I used.

(after about 2 hours of work you can see I nearly wore the 80 grit paper out…lol)

Although I still have a good way to go I think I made some decent progress….

Well things where going well until I decided to tackle the anchor bolt on the Fulton. Long story short i thought things went really bad when the bolt snapped off at the base. Nooooo….. Things got bad when the easy out broke off inside the remaining threaded piece.

I decided to quit right there for the day and stew on the problem for a bit (over a few cold ones of course). Normally on something like this i would simply build up the metal again using a mig welder, drill, and tap the hole. The issue there was heat. I was and still am scared to death of getting this to hot and causing any form of warping. So how do i get threads back in there and use less heat?

I thought of this….

So the next day I open the base up and removed all the old thread, easy out, and good metal (not happy about that part) with a small cutting disk. I would rather had drilled it out, but those of you who know… There is no such thing as drilling out an easy out…lol

So here is me cutting the channel to fit the nut….

Here is the shaped nut to fit the contours of the handle and get the slope right….

I then ran into the issue of getting the angle just right for the handle. So I got an idea of using a very small amount of JB on the sides of the nut, using the original handle bolt (the side with good threads), the handle, and clamp everything in place. After I came back a couple of hours later I was able to remove the clamp and find my nut was set at the right angle for the handle. I then solwwwwwwly tacked the nut in place. I would only spot weld both sides slightly then walk away and let everything cool down. It took me a couple of hours to get it to the point where I felt it was set solid, but I didn’t want to rush it.

Ugly I know… But it works….lol

Once I felt I got the handle under control I made the decision to drop them off to a local fabrication shop and have them bead blasted. After picking them up this afternoon I knew I made a good call….

Well, that is where I am at now. I still have a ton of work to do, and parts to order this weekend. All in all I am happy how they are coming along. Although I would rather things go a good bit smoother, but the trials I am overcoming to get these where they need to be is going to make them that much more.

Thanks for reading my overly way to long blog describing what I been up to with these planes.

As I mentioned in my latest project (Cornerstone) my Father In-Law has from the beginning supported me as far as my woodwork goes. He knew I have had a crazed desire to get my hands on some old hand planes, restore them, and use them as prized tools in my shop. I detest garage sales, yet I have frequented quite a few for planes with absolutely no luck at all. He always asks me how the search was going and told me he would keep an eye out for me.

Well, lets just say he most certainly did….

Not only did he find me two planes as to which was exactly what I was looking for. He had to throw a twist in it that literally blew me away. These weren’t just any hand planes … These where his Grandfathers personal hand planes. I now have the honer of restoring two beautiful pieces of my brides family history.

I don’t know about yall…. But for me… That makes these flat out priceless…

By far the most meaningful gift I can remember getting in a long time. I just had to share what in my eyes….. What Christmas is all about.

Merry Christmas!

I finally got done doing my world famous rendition of the “Chicken Dance” due to the excitement of what kind of treat I had in the box…. and this is what I found…..

Talk about one sweet mallet! I am going to be able to do all kinds of cool stuff with this bad boy… Ohhh I couldn’t wait to grab a chisel and start whacking away…..

Just as I was starting to really get into the fun my lovely bride came out, and found another use for my awesome new addition to the tool arsenal. She reminded me that ”We” had to go finish up some Christmas shopping. I am not so much a fan for her use of this new tool…..

All kidding aside I am beside myself on how cool this mallet is. Thank you so much Mike for the wonderful gift and you can rest assured this dude will get some serious use.

Mike….. You Da Man!

Long story short, I was hit up by a coworker asking me if I could build her daughter a jewelery box. We looked at some stock I had at the house and as you would guess…. She picked the two hardest woods to work with (for me at least).... Purple heart and curly maple….. Fun times!

To up the ante she requested a “J” be placed on the top. Well, I thought about this long and hard, and come to the conclusion the only way to get it in there permanently was to inlay it. To make maters even worse is for the life of me I can’t just do something simple (my bride reminds me of this on a regular basis). So I went in search for a “Fancy” looking “J”. This is what I found….

After figuring out the design it was time to cut it out. Now I will be the first to admit that this is my first real scroll saw project. So it didn’t come out quite as perfect as i would of liked, but luckily the design allows a little breathing room. Here is what it looked like after about an hour and a half of eye crossing, headache inducing, scroll saw work…lol

After it was all cut out I used a router to make the recess to accept the “J”....

Then glued in place.

Next step was to let the saw dust fly! BTW…. I had to force myself to eat one of my brides “Would Be World Famous If The World Knew About It” personal pecan pies to get a catch pan for the saw dust. Ohhhh the things we force ourselves to do in the name of our work….lol

After the dust cleared I mixed the purple heart saw dust with “Clear” drying epoxy. Make 100% sure the package says clear. If not the epoxy will turn an amberish hue. I then put the epoxy mix into the cut outs. I also used a small tooth pick to make sure it way down into the cuts. After it cured I used a block plane set really shallow to slowly remove the excess. I had to do this twice to get an even fill. Once I got it really close with the plane I finished it up with a card scrapper. Once it was trued up to my liking I did a finish sand on both sides and put the bad boy into its new purple heart frame….

Well, I would love to share more of this little project, but I don’t want to ruin its time in the projects page. I hope this makes at least a little sense (only on third cup of coffee this morning), and someone will find it useful. Good luck and thanks for taking the time to read my first “How I Did This” blog….

My wife came out and I mentioned to her that Mike is the guy who makes the scroll crosses she has fits over. Just as soon as I got it out of my mouth Mike said “Well I brought you something”..... Mike went out to his truck and brought back two special gifts he made for me. I just want to say I don’t get stunned often and rarely do I get tongue tied, but I was beside myself proud of my new treasures. I mean seriously … Mike went out of his way just to say hi…. Then bring some of his handy work? ......... “What a great afternoon!”

Well, I just had to get on here and do me some bragging. I am so proud to have finally get to shake the hand of Mike and have some of his handy work here at the house….

Ohhh and Mike… You weren’t gone 5 minutes and my bride confiscated the cross….lol

Thanks again my friend… I’m going to have to return the favor soon….

I am so stoked to see the news. I am in disbelief I came in the top 5…. I will be honest… Right now I am on cloud 9…lol

Thanks for all the words of encouragement yall.

Link : “Got Jigs? Challenge“

Long story short I got to thinking that one of the best woodworkers I know of thought I should enter it…... So maybe there is something there. I went ahead and submitted it yesterday squeaking by the deadline ….. bearly.

Here is the link : Miter Spline Jig

Well wish me luck…. Lord knows I need it….lol

Well, I want to add to my collection, but have to stay in a “Woodworker’s Budget”.... So I started keeping an eye on Ebay and Craigslist. Two days ago i seen an add on Craigslist that stated “Old Jointer Plane good condition $30”. So I replied and he sent me a picture of something I never seen before (of course that is saying very little seeing I know nothing about planes). Long story short i picked it up yesterday after doing a little research online with the bad cell phone image I had….. Lets just say i felt really bad for the guy and attempted to let him know what he had before we traded. He was confident these are very common and have very little value….. I said OK and went home with my new treasure….

What I stumbled across was in fact a plow plane made by Ohio Tool Company. It also has the number 97 stamped on the nose as well. I did more research and found this little jewel was built sometime between 1851 and 1913. I know it is at least pre 1913 due to the Columbus stamped below the “Ohio Too Co.” stamp. The Columbus factory was destroyed in 1913 and was moved to a NY factory the following year. I also found a web page with a catalog for Ohio Tool Co. that I was able to match the 97 stamped on it with a model number (it had a picture to describe the details). In that catalog the average price for block planes was from $.75 to $1.50….. This one brand new was $8.50. So right there and then I knew I stumbled onto something very cool.

I guess what makes this so awesome to me is I have combined two of my passions…. Woodworking and history.

This is a bad picture I snapped last night with my cell phone (better than the one I bought it off of lol).

Thanks for listening to me share my little ray of good fortune. I am overly tickled to death about this find. I plan on making a nice little display case for it in the future….

Well I started looking at the top of my little box I am making my bride and do as I always do… Look for mistakes. I found a few minor ones, but all in all I was delighted on how the miters came out. I can honestly say they are by far the best miters I have cut and assembled to date. I got to thinking about past projects as well. My first practice box, my first real keepsake box made for my brides Grandfather. my countless attempts at wooden hinges before I found a way that worked for me, etc…. Looking back, those projects fail in comparison to most the work found here on LJ. I will say I am still very proud of them thought, simply because “They where the best I could do at that time”

I find myself using woodwork as an example to teach my daughters that things never happen over night. Weather it is math, spelling (which I still need tons of practice…lol), soccer, different work skills, or even woodwork a person must practice. That is the only true way to master (or get better) at anything….... keep trying and keep learning. The way I see it…. I am teaching my children by example. Maybe I am looking at it all weird, but I like the thought.

I never really made a blog before just spilling nonsense on here just for folks to read, but I was thinking about other noobs like myself who question their own capabilities. I still think there are tons of things that are out of my skill level. I will also note that I do not believe that there is anything out of my reach.

So to all my fellow noobs out there….. There is hope…. You can build and create anything you want. It does take time and a ton of practice. Be proud of what you make now and know there is no such thing as “Perfect” (I am still having a hard time with that one…lol). As my Dad always told me…. “Do the best you can do at everything you do and you will have no regrets”.... He was a very wise man.

Well, off to work and day dream of being back home in my shop. Thanks for reading my senseless rambling…

Well my situation is the name, logo, and best way to go about it. She attends Arkansas High here in my home town and their mascot is…. You guessed it “Razorbacks”. So the name they came up for the bat house id “RazorBats”.... I though it was catchy and cool, but had no idea they didn’t even have a logo for this idea yet. So last night when it dropped below freezing I decided it was time to do some work on the computer… In the house… Where it is warm….lol

I have a little experience with a program called GIMP (it is a free alternative to Photo Shop). I used 3 different images, changed them WAYYY up, and combined them. Well now I cant make up my mind if I want to scroll out the design and attach it (thought of using very thin plastic cutting board and spray painting the cut out design with Fusion paint). Or….. I could go pick up a wood burning pen and learn….lol.

I am leaning toward the wood burning idea seeing how this will be out doors and worried about the epoxy I would use holding up attached design. There will be small parts if I cut it out and this seems like a nightmare to me. Where burning it in will be there…

Just wanted to see what yall though of it…. I have no experience with this and not sure what is the best direction…..

BTW… Here is a rough draft of the logo I created last night….. I wasn’t to worried about the logo being copyright due to I am making it for Arkansas High…

As of right now I am in the middle of building cabinets that I am going to hang above my stationary work bench. That is high on the list due to I hate clutter and I have run out of room to put things up. I also am trying to put a finish on my practice keepsake box (which turned out horrible but I have learned a LOT). Then I have my ugly little shop stool project I am half way through with.

On top of that I am going to swing by tonight and picking up some cherry a family friend is giving me (the epitome of me hitting the lottery) and I swung by a lumber yard an hour away the other day and could not fight the urge to bring home my first piece of curly maple (I was carrying this stick around showing it to everyone like I just got the best Christmas present EVER… Needless to say I was very excited to own such a pretty piece of wood). I plan on starting a nice keepsake box out of it ASAP…

I guess the reason for me being so long winded is to ask …. “Am I Alone In This?”

I wonder if there is some sort of medical psycho analyses term for someone who has more projects he wants to build than light in the day?....lol.

I have come to really enjoy this site. I have spent many hours just sipping on coffee and admiring work everyone post. My problem is I think it is making my condition (what ever it is called) worse…..lol. I must admit I am enjoying it greatly and hope I never loose this fire and desire to try new techniques and projects.

Thanks for listening (or reading) to my little spout. Now off to try and catch my tail again….lol

A little background… My oldest daughter has a younger half brother whom she wanted me to make a step stool for. I was very excited when she hit me up about it. I am 34 years old and still remember the one I had as a child. The original plan was I build it and she paints it (sounds like a great plan to me). As in typical teen fashion she got busy and I had to do the crunch time paint on the stool. Of course I had to get fancy with it…

I hit it with a basic Krylon banner red base. I came back and free handed everything else. I was actually very proud of it and was beyond excited for my oldest to give this as a Christmas gift for her brother. That was of course before I hit it with the Krylon Satin Clear Finish. To my wonderful surprise it white washed the whole stool. I mean bad!

In a desperate attempt last night I tried to buff it out…. Yup…. That’s where things got worse. I failed… Looks like this gift wont be opened on Christmas morning.

I hate to make my first blog here on Lumber Jocks a rant, but it’s whats on my mind….. Thanks for listening…. Ummmm…. I mean reading….lol

P.S. I would of posted pics but I couldnt figure how to upload them to the site… Im just batting a 1000 the last couple of days…lol